Whos, Whats & Hows -- First Night

First Night Online Program

At the end of many previous performances there have been hundreds of programs left littering the theater. So, as part of our ongoing efforts to improve our environmental impact and to focus our financial resources on programming, we are posting out program online.

To enter the Monkeyhouse at First Night RAFFLE email us at MonkeyhouseLovesMe@gmail.com and put Raffle J in the subject line!

Odds Again
A prelude to Against the Odds: Stories of Adaptation, Translation & Survival  
at Springstep in Medford, MA on March 18th & 25th and April 8th & 15th

Presented by Monkeyhouse
at First Night 2011
at the Hynes Convention Center
December 31, 2010

Lighting Design by Jason Ries

Costume Design by Karen Krolak

Swinkers (premiere)
Choreographed by Karen Krolak in collaboration with Nicole Harris, Nikki Sao Pedro, Caitlin Meehan and Courtney Wagner
Music by Twink
Special Thanks to Sarah Feinberg 

Odds (premiered at Massachusetts Dance Festival, 2010)
Choreographed by Karen Krolak in collaboration with Caitlin Meehan, Nikki Sao Pedro and Nicole Harris
Sound by Rudy Trubitt and Aaron Ximm
Text Written by Karen Krolak
Voice Over by Marty Allen
Special Thanks to Sarah Feinberg, Julia Marx, Rowan Salem and Sarah Friswell

4-Eva: L’appel du vide (premiere)
Choreographed by Karen Krolak in collaboration with Eva Dean
Performed by Eva Dean
Music by David Wechsler
Special Thanks to Eva Dean and the USD Lab Artist in Residence Program

Firk 1.4 (premiere)
Choreographed by Karen Krolak in collaboration with Courtney Wagner, Nicole Harris and Anne Howarth
Music by Anne Howarth

Fidelius (premiered at Art Beat, 2010)
Choreographed by Nicole Harris
Performed by Nikki Sao Pedro and Caitlin Meehan
Music by David Wechsler
Costumes by Nicole Harris
Special Thanks to Ashley Chandler, Shane Rutkowski and David Wechsler (check out his new album here for FREE!)

Dream of the Rhinoceros (premiered at Bent Wit Cabaret, 2010)
Created by Rhino Preserves
Music Composed by Trygve Madsen

Ramfeezled(er) (premiere) (sort of)

Choreographed by Amelia O'Dowd and Karen Krolak
Performed by Nikki Sao Pedro, Courtney Wagner, Caitlin Meehan and Nicole Harris
Music by Ed in the Refrigerators
Voice Over by Karen Krolak
Text adapted from a very real, very frightening book on dating.
Sound Design by James Bernardinelli

Thank Yous

Monkeyhouse truly treasures our funders and we plan to dedicate a page on our website to all of the people who keep this organization thriving.  Since we value relationships so highly, however, we will list people according to the number of years that they have supported us instea of by the size of contributions.  Knowing that so many volunteers give enormous amounts of priceless time, we will also include them on this page.
Please make sure to let us know whether and how you would like to be recognized.
In the meantime, we would like to thank:

First Night
Springstep
Google
College Planners LLC
Impulse Dance Center
Arlington Center for the Arts
Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston
Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center
GoodSearch
Exit Theater
Marquette Associates
Uncle Monsterface
David Wechsler
Jacob's Pillow Choreographers' Lab
Actors' Shakespeare Project

Pat and Rita Krolak
Richard Miner and Corinne Nagy
Tim Losch and Brandi Brooks
 Tom and Viz Ries
Danalynne Wheeler
Cathy & Joe Lynn
John Aceto & Natalie Pino
Austin & Sarah de Besche
Gillian Brecker
Robyn Keske & Fay Robinson
Steve Wightman and Peggy Wacks
Freya Bernstein and Dr. Martin Broff
Joan and Robert Parker
Susan and Gib Hammond
Nicky Felix
David Parker
Dot and Tom Christian
Joan and Roger Panek
LuAnn and Jim Pagella
Kathryn Stieber
Dr. and Mrs. Owen Bernstein
Jon Schaffrath
Drs. Carlos Estrada and Bita Tabesh
Paul Feiss and Margaret McKenna
Pat and Lizzie Krolak
Michael and Carly Krolak
Dr. Michael Shannon
Dave Pavkovic and Becca Rossen
Christina Augello
Pam and Steve Harris
Marjorie Freeman
Michael Cotter
Melissa Dollman
Gillian Brecker and Seth Mason
Donna and James Rosenberg
Mike and Judy Panaro
Penny Penniston and Jeremy Wechsler
Tom and Dot Christian
Karen and Mark Slutsky
Amelia O'Dowd and Brian Eastman
Beth McGuire and Nathaniel Panek
Lori Taylor
Adele Traub
Marty Allen
Eric Phelps
Margaret Hagemeister
Anne Howarth and Rick Frank
Martha Christensen and Neal Smyth
Michael Wissner
Julia Blatt
Suzanne Jenkins
Joanne Dougan
Mark Zuroff
Zach Galvin
Shelley Neill
John Aceto and Natalie Pino
Mara Blumenfeld
Irene Gaetani
Gaby Mervis
Sarah Friswell
Sarah Feinberg
Ashley Chandler
Janine Harrington
Leah Sakala
Michael Maggio
Lynn Schwab
Gail & Rick Fine
Niles Welch
Denise & Carlos Sao Pedro
Endicott College
Kristin Bezio
Rachel Strutt
Gregory Jenkins
Brent Sullivan
iCar
 Tori Woodhouse
Bari Rosenberg
...and of course,
Lynne Anne Blom
Timothy O’Slynne

Please feel free to email us at MonkeyhouseLovesME@gmail.com with any questions or comments, if you don't want to post them here.

Monkeyhouse @ First Night Fun Fact of the Day

by Nicole Harris

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

Courtney Wagner versus the gray and black striped pants.

Courtney began performing with Monkeyhouse at Boomtown this summer at CMAC.  After being yelled at by some inmates while wearing a teacup on her head without even blinking she was immediately welcomed into the companay as though she was meant to be here.  Since that show she has performed with us at Dance at the Fells, Movement at the Mills and now First Night.  Whether she was wearing a silver space helmet and delivering post-it notes or collecting glass with a pair of tweezers there has always been one thing in common for every one of Courtney's performances.  The gray and black striped pants.  Courtney has yet to do a performance with Monkeyhouse without them.  Don't you worry, she's looking adorable in them for First Night too!

Maybe some day we'll give her something else to wear on the bottom half of her body....

Green Street Emerging Artists Program

by Nicole Harris

 Last night was the first showing for the Green Street Studios Emerging Artists Program in which a small number of choreographers are selected to work with two mentors to create new works and produce a concert.  I am very excited to announce that this winter I will be one of four choreographers participating in the program along with Jennifer Hardy, Angie Hartley and Jillian Grunnah.  We will be working with mentors Rozann Kraus from the Dance Complex and Monkeyhouse's own Karen Krolak over the next two months while get ready for our concert on February 11th & 12th!  I really enjoyed watching everyone's work and think this is going to be a concert filled with personality and beautiful dancing!  I am thrilled to be a part of it! 

Jillian Grunnah

Nicole Harris

 

Angie Hartley

Jennifer Hardy

Come visit us at http://gssemergingartists.blogspot.com/ (Don't worry, we'll update you here at the Monkeyhouse blog too!) for updates on the show, information on the process of building pieces and more exciting tidbits!

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

Hot dog! Eva Dean is a freaking dream dancer. For starters, look at those articulate toes. Her company is celebrating its Silver Anniversary and yet she has been incredibly willing to carve out time to develop 4-Eva: L'appel du vide, her solo for First Night.

Having never tried to set work on a more experienced choreographer before, I confess that I was a bit intimidated as I started this piece in November. She kept reminding me though, that she is "not precious about anything." Our rehearsals have resounded with laughter and the piece evolved much more rapidly that either of us had expected. Can't wait to hear what people think about it when it premieres tomorrow night.

Have you gotten your First Night button yet?

Monkeyhouse @ First Night Fun Fact of the Day

by Nicole Harris

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

To those of you who have never been to a Monkeyhouse rehearsal it might come as a surprise to know that we sometimes lose focus.  (To anyone who has ever spent any time with any one of us this comes as no surprise at all...)

This stool, which made its debut at Art Beat and is just one of many chairs gracing the Monkeyhouse stage in the next few months, provides hours of upended entertainment during quiet moments of rehearsal.

At the start of rehearsal today Karen was standing in for Courtney.  In an obvious next step, Karen's socks were standing in for Karen.  They were working very hard.  Hard enough that a camera was brought out to document the occasion.

Anne and her french horn did their best to keep us in check, both when we got a little off track and during the new Firk we were rehearsing.  I am so glad she (and her horn) are making it a habit of appearing in Monkeyhouse shows these days!

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

Psst...did you know that you can check out one of Monkeyhouse's pieces for First Night 2011 on Facebook? Our friend, David Wechsler, of the Tyranny of Dave (who also makes a mean chocolate chip cookie), posted it for us. We will be using another song, Call of the Waters, for Eva Dean's solo.We would chat more but we must skedaddle off to rehearsal.

Monkeyhouse’s Major Events & Milestones from 2010 (part 1)

Monkeyhouse was truly honored to be included in Karen Campbell's Boston Globe article about milestones in the Boston Dance Community. While emailing her for the story, we realized how amazing 2010 has been for this organization and we could not have accomplished this without YOU. Thanks for reading, encouraging, and fueling our growth. We hope you enjoy waltzing down memory lane and savoring the last 52 weeks with us.

Anti-ossification at Cool New York

Monkeyhouse’s Major Events & Milestones from 2010

January

  * Monkeyhouse finishes Anti-ossification, a duet choreographed by Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris, to premiere at the Cool New York Dance Festival in Brooklyn, NY. Both shows were performed to full houses.

February

  *Karen Krolak is nominated for an IRNE for her choreography on Actors' Shakespeare Project’s Coriolanus.

March

  * Monkeyhouse’s blog Connect 2 Choreography named one of the 50 Best Blogs for Dance Students.

April

  * Monkeyhouse is awarded Best Dance Company in Boston 2010 by the Boston Phoenix Readers’ Poll.

  * Monkeyhouse launches C2C: Connect to Choreography a new monthly television show produced with SCATV in Somerville.

  * Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris return to the Groton School for another week long residency working with theater students.

   *Monkeyhouse initiates a series of Sporks, focus groups that tackle organizational topics, to generate new ideas from long time supporters.

May

  * Karen Krolak is invited to be USD Lab Artist at Union Street Dance in Brooklyn, NY. As part of this program, Karen led a series of Musings, workshops that Monkeyhouse uses to sketch out choreographic ideas. This is the first time Musings are opened to the general public.

  * Jon Schaffrath and Nicole Harris join the Monkeyhouse Board of Directors.

June

Movers & Shakers, Anne Howarth and Kristin Bezio, on Moving Day.

  * Nicole Harris galvanizes Monkeyhouse’s Movers and Shakers to prepare the organization for our move from the Arlington Center for the Arts.

  * Karen Krolak begins meeting with Karen Comeau, a teacher at the Healy School in Somerville and a fellow "Diplomatic Delegate" on the 2009 Somerville Sister City trip to Tiznit, Morocco. They develop a program that will use choreographic exercises to help students understand elements of grammar and improve reading comprehension.  They plan to partner with a school in Morocco in the future.

to be continued...